You can start this quest be speaking to Moira Brown in Megaton, shopkeeper of Craterside Supply. She wants your help in writing a book to help travelers survive in the wasteland. You can help her, which requires you to do nine mini-quests, or persuade her out of writing the book. It is recommended that you do all of the mini-quests on your first go. You also have the option to lie to her (by saying you went/did the thing she asked) through a Speech Check on almost every single mini-quest.

At any point during the quest, you can question Moira's reasons for writing the book. If you pass a Speech option you can convince her to give up on the book because of "the Centaur incident". This will result in bad karma and will bring an end to the whole quest. However you will gain the Dream Crusher perk which will reduce the chance of your enemy getting a critical hit by 50%. You will also get 30% discount at the Craterside Supply.

You can do a chapters mini-quests in any order, these quests are in in-game dialogue option order. There are two objectives in each mini-quest, the main one that has to be completed to finish the quest, and an optional one that does not have to be finished, but if done gives the player some extra rewards.

From Megaton, travel east to the Super Duper Mart. There's around 8 Raiders within the building, they shouldn't cause you too much trouble, even at a low level. To the left of the main doors you'll see a counter, go behind it and you'll find a fridge, remove all the food from the fridge to complete the main objective.

Head to the back of the building and into the storage room, you'll find a first aid box next to a Protectron robot, take all the Medicine from the box to complete the optional objective. At this point you'll hear Raiders over the intercom and more will enter the building. Fight them off, leave the building and head back to Megaton. If you only took the food you'll only get the main reward and complete it, but if you took the Medicine, Moira will reward you with a Food Sanitizer which will increase the amount of Hit Points from food items by 20%.

For this quest you simply have to stand in an irradiated area a watch your Radiation level go up. The quickest way to do this is to go down to the bottom of Megaton and drink from the pool of water around the Atomic Bomb. This will give you +20 Rads per second. Moira will cure your Radiation at the end.

Head back to Craterside Supply and talk to Moira. If you only contract 200 rads you'll get some Rad-X and Rad Away, but if you get 600 rads she will say there was a problem and you've contracted a small mutation. This mutation will cause any crippled limbs to heal if you have Advanced Radiation Poisoning, it's know as the Rad Regeneration Perk.

Minefield is located north-east of Megaton. It's a small abandoned town with over 60 Frag Mines planted around the area, however, avoiding and disarming the mines isn't the hardest thing to do. There's also a man called Arkansas in one of the buildings, he has a Sniper Rifle and will attempt to kill you if you're spotted. Arkansas will not only shoot you but also the Mines and Cars around you causing them to explode. You can simply kill Arkansas if you can get a good enough shot, but he's also used in another quest, Strictly Business, so you may want to keep him alive. If you're spotted by Arkansas you'll want to get in and get out as quick as you can.

To complete the main objective simply sneak your way to the playground in the middle of the Minefield. To complete the optional objective sneak up on a mine and press the activate button before it explodes, this will disarm the mine. Now you can pick it up and take it back to Moira.

Main Objective: Return to Moira with less than 50% of your total health. .

Optional Objective: Return to Moira with a crippled body part.

There's no specific route to take during this quest, simply injure yourself in any way you can think of. A quick and fairly easy way is to jump off the balcony in front of Craterside Supply, this should cripple your legs but you may have to jump off again to get below 50% health. Another way is to throw frag grenades on the floor and walk under them as they explode. Be careful not to throw them close to any Megaton Residents or the town will likely turn hostile.

Return to Moira and she will heal your injuries and reward you with a few doses of Med-X if you complete the main objective, and an Environment Suit if you complete the optional.

Optional Objective: Test the Mole Rat Repellent on a further 7 Mole Rats.

Moira will give you a stick covered in Mole Rat Repellent and asks you to see how the Mole Rats react when hit with it. The repellent is not supposed to kill the mole rats, but rather drive them away and make Wastelanders lives easier. Hitting a Mole Rat over the head with the stick will cause smoke to come from their scalp, if you hit it again it's head will explode. If your character is at a low level, Mole Rats can be found all over the Capital Wasteland. Moira will mark Tepid Sewers on your Pip-Boy because there's plenty of Mole Rats in that sewer, however, there's also a lot of Raiders. Keep in mind you do not have to go to Tepid Sewers. If you're not quick the raiders will kill all the Mole Rats before you get a chance. Alternatively you may want to go to the RobCo Facility or the Jury Street Metro Station to encounter mole rats.

Once you've killed the required amount of Mole Rats, return to Moira in Megaton. If you completed the optional objective she will allow you to keep the Repellent Stick, if not, she'll just give you some Jet and Psycho and you have to buy the stick back from her.

Main Objective: Place an observer inside a Mirelurk Egg Clutch in the Anchorage Memorial.

Optional Objective: Complete the mission without killing any Mirelurks.

Near Anchorage Memorial there is a small metal door that leads to a tunnel infested with Mirelurks and egg clutches. Completing the optional objective without killing any is hard work, because mirelurks are generally aggressive and even more so around their eggs. There are 3 easy solution to working around this:

You can go into the Memorial before starting the quest and kill them all, they won't re-spawn during the quest.

Go into the Memorial with a strong Companion like Fawkes. It doesn't matter if a follower kills the Mirlurks, you only fail if you kill them.

Run through as fast as you can and use plenty of Stimpaks, and hope you don't die.

Again, the quickest way into the Memorial is through Service Entrance to the side of the building. You can quickly run in, plant the observer and run out without too gaining too much attention from the Mirelurks. If you do kill one you can still complete the quest, you just won't get the optional reward.

To complete the main objective simply talk to Bannon in Rivet City, he will claim that he discovered the city. To complete the optional objective and find out the real history of Rivet City you'll have to talk to Belle Bonny in the Muddy Rudder bar. She won't tell you anything but she'll direct you towards Pinkerton in the Broken Bow section of Rivet City.

To enter the Broken Bow you'll have to go through an underwater door within the gap that separates the Rivet City ship from the Broken Bow section. There is a door above water that leads you straight to Pinkerton but you need a Lockpick skill of 100 to open it. If you've already completed The Replicated Man quest, the journey to Pinkerton should be easy. If you haven't done the quest, you'll have to watch out for Mirlurk Hunters and various traps within the Broken Bow. In Pinkeron's room, read the council notes on his terminal to complete the optional objective.

Return to Moira in Megaton to complete the quest. If you completed the optional objective she will reward you with some Mentats] and a 10% discount at Rivet City's Marketplace.

Main Objective: Install a processor in the facility mainframe at the RobCo Facility.

Optional Objective: Hack the production facility mainframe.

The RobCo Facility is located in the far south-west of the Capital Wasteland, close to Tenpenny Tower. On the bottom floor of the facility, you'll find a few Mole Rats and Radroaches, clear them out and head up to the next level. As you make your way to the top level you'll see many deactivated robots. On the top floor you'll find the facility mainframe, install the processor to complete the main objective. Adding the processor will start up all the previously deactivated robots and they will be hostile towards you. To complete the optional objective you must hack the facility mainframe, this can be done in the same room but it will require you to have a Science skill of at least 50. Hacking the mainframe will stop the robots from attacking you, otherwise you'll have to fight you way out of the building.

A quick and easy alternative is to have the Robotics Expert perk before starting the quest. You can simply tell Moira everything she wants to know about the robots without moving a foot. Once the quest is complete Moira will reward you with some Pulse Grenades, if you complete the optional objective she'll also give you a Big Book of Science.

The Arlington Library is located in the south of the Capital Wasteland, not far from the Citadel. Enter the building and talk to Scribe Yearling. Ask her for help finding the Library Archive and she'll grant you access to the library. The main objective is easy, check out the terminal behind Scribe Yearling and click on the "Access card catalog" option. To complete the optional objective you'll have to go further into the library which is occupied by Raiders. Luckily you can find Brotherhood of Steel members on every floor, they're trying to clear the building of Raiders which makes it much easier for you to avoid trouble. On the third floor you'll find a room with a few raiders and a Ceiling Turret, kill and destroy everything in the room and head over to the terminal to download the Library Archive which will complete the optional objective.